Scanning old photos (negatives and slides)

[Leo60]

Hi All
I have inherited over 7o plus years of Photos from my parents also quite a few from the grandparents....it's a job I would like to get through rather quickly and I would like a scanner that scans slides and negatives......any suggestions please

 

[runswithsizzers]

Some families take a lot more photos than others. Do you want to copy a few hundred photos or a few thousand?

Are the slides and negatives all 35mm or are there other size formats, too?

What do you plan to do with the files?

 

[Leo60]

It's a few hundred. Mostly 35mm but some 120 as well and I;m just going to keep them on a stick

 

[Romanko]

I digitized about 500 family slides with a digital camera. It took me several days but I enjoyed the process. Camera scanning is several times faster than either a flat-bed or a dedicated film scanner. 70 year old slides could require a lot of color correction and post processing (unless they are Kodachromes).

 

[Leo60]

Romanko that is interesting. What was your set up?

 

[Romanko]

Sony alpha 7RIV + Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro + Raleno Video Light Source and DIY slide holder (a sheet of thin MDF with an aperture slightly larger than 35 mm frame size and three pieces of 12x12 mm wooden stock attached with double-sided tape to position the slide). I painted the holder with black acrylic.
I use an old Meopta enlarger as a camera stand.
For scanning I use Sony Remote software. Processing was done in Darktable but I switched to Affinity photo since then.

 

[Leo60]

Thanks Romanko....wow....it's beyond my capabilities though

 

[loccdor]

If it's just a job of a few hundred and then you won't use the equipment again you may want to hire it off. I bet someone here would be willing to do it if you posted a classified.

 

[jeffreyg]

If you have a digital camera that will do close focus you can get a slide viewing box many of which are LED and inexpensive. Just rig the camera on something like a copy stand or hand hold (steady ) and make proof sheet compositions. If you want to keep the negatives negative do them as transparencies as well.

 

[Romanko]

Thanks Romanko....wow....it's beyond my capabilities though

You can get very good results with much simpler equipment. Kyle McDougall has a video on low-budget scanning. To further reduce the costs you can use an enlarger lens in a macro bellows. Any DSLR with at least 12 Megapixel resolution will suffice.

 

[Romanko]

I bet someone here would be willing to do it if you posted a classified.

@Leo60 are you in Australia?

 

[runswithsizzers]

This topic has been much discussed, and as you will soon see there are different several paths to digitizing photos, each with it's own loyal adherents. A brief overview of your options:

1. Paper prints.
I believe a flatbed scanner is the best way to copy paper prints. You could try to photograph them with a digital camera and lights, but it is hard to control reflections.

2. 35mm slides and negatives.
These can be digitized at home with flatbed scanners that have lights in the lids, dedicated film scanners, by copying with a digital camera, or, for best quality (at high cost), you can pay someone to scan them with a drum scanner.

I've never used a flatbed scanner for film, but from what I read, the quality from 135 film may tend more toward "fair" and not so much "great"?

Dedicated film scanners can do a great job, but there are few (if any) new film scanners being made. The legendary film scanners from back in the day are no longer supported by the manufacturers, so any needed parts or repairs are getting iffy. Furthermore, the legacy scanners often will not connect to and communicate with modern computers, so a certain amount of tech savy is often required to make them work.

Copying 35mm with a digital camera can give great results -- or not -- depending on your setup. Cost can vary considerably. There are few (if any?) complete off-the-shelf options, so it can be challenging to find all the necessary pieces to put together a setup you like. [here is a photo of mine: https://garywright.smugmug.com/Photography/Film-To-Digital/i-4TgHjfm/A].

All of these options require software to convert negatives to positives. Black and white is relatively easy, using any competent image editing software. Color negatives, however, can be more difficult. Often times, the software that comes with flatbed scanners or film scanners will do a pretty good job with color, but remember, the software that came with legacy film scanners may not run on a modern computer. Those using digital cameras to scan color negatives, will probably have the most trouble finding a path to good looking color inversions.

3. 120 film
More-or-less the same as 35mm, except: scans of 120 negatives done on flatbed scanners tend to be more satisfying than from 135 film. And decated film scanners that can handle 120 film are even more rare (and expensive) than those for 135 film.

Especially if you don't want to spend a lot of time on a one-and-done project, I would seriously consider paying someone to do it for you.

Edited to add: We still don't know what you plan to do with the digital images, so we don't know how much resolution / image quality you require. If you just want something for online sharing, the IQ bar can be fairly low, but if you are planning on making prints, the scans should probably be of higher resolution.

 

[xkaes]

As runswith alludes to, you haven't told us exactly what you have. If you have prints, slides, and negatives up to 120 you have lots of options -- way too many to list here (although some will give you specific suggestions).

If you have lots of color negatives, I'd advice you to stay away from the digital camera approach.

There are TONS of flat bed scanners that can do it all, and good used ones can be found for very little $$$ -- assuming you are not trying to make museum-quality prints.

You also don't say what you want to do with all these images?????????

 

[Sirius Glass]

I have an Epson Perfection V850 Pro which can do the job. Perhaps overkill, but it will easily do the job.

 

[Pieter12]

How much time and money are you willing to devote to this endeavor? It might be more expedient to send the photos to a service that specializes in scanning photos and slides.

 

[xkaes]

Which do you have more of -- $$$ or cents?

Flatbed recommendations

My ancient Epson 4990 (I think that's the model) seems to have finally died. WHat are people using these days which can do 35mm and medium format? DSLR scanning is not an option for me, I have no space to set it up. I've looked and am only finding one Epson model on the market these days, is...

www.photrio.com

 

[Leo60]

If it's just a job of a few hundred and then you won't use the equipment again you may want to hire it off. I bet someone here would be willing to do it if you posted a classified.

Thanks....that's a good idea...I will consider it

 

[Leo60]

@Leo60 are you in Australia?

Yes that's right Romanko

 

[Leo60]

This topic has been much discussed, and as you will soon see there are different several paths to digitizing photos, each with it's own loyal adherents. A brief overview of your options:

1. Paper prints.
I believe a flatbed scanner is the best way to copy paper prints. You could try to photograph them with a digital camera and lights, but it is hard to control reflections.

2. 35mm slides and negatives.
These can be digitized at home with flatbed scanners that have lights in the lids, dedicated film scanners, by copying with a digital camera, or, for best quality (at high cost), you can pay someone to scan them with a drum scanner.

I've never used a flatbed scanner for film, but from what I read, the quality from 135 film may tend more toward "fair" and not so much "great"?

Dedicated film scanners can do a great job, but there are few (if any) new film scanners being made. The legendary film scanners from back in the day are no longer supported by the manufacturers, so any needed parts or repairs are getting iffy. Furthermore, the legacy scanners often will not connect to and communicate with modern computers, so a certain amount of tech savy is often required to make them work.

Copying 35mm with a digital camera can give great results -- or not -- depending on your setup. Cost can vary considerably. There are few (if any?) complete off-the-shelf options, so it can be challenging to find all the necessary pieces to put together a setup you like. [here is a photo of mine: https://garywright.smugmug.com/Photography/Film-To-Digital/i-4TgHjfm/A].

All of these options require software to convert negatives to positives. Black and white is relatively easy, using any competent image editing software. Color negatives, however, can be more difficult. Often times, the software that comes with flatbed scanners or film scanners will do a pretty good job with color, but remember, the software that came with legacy film scanners may not run on a modern computer. Those using digital cameras to scan color negatives, will probably have the most trouble finding a path to good looking color inversions.

3. 120 film
More-or-less the same as 35mm, except: scans of 120 negatives done on flatbed scanners tend to be more satisfying than from 135 film. And decated film scanners that can handle 120 film are even more rare (and expensive) than those for 135 film.

Especially if you don't want to spend a lot of time on a one-and-done project, I would seriously consider paying someone to do it for you.

Edited to add: We still don't know what you plan to do with the digital images, so we don't know how much resolution / image quality you require. If you just want something for online sharing, the IQ bar can be fairly low, but if you are planning on making prints, the scans should probably be of higher resolution.

Thanks so much...there is a lot more option....the photos are just to keep with the family history....just to much to physically keep

 

[Leo60]

As runswith alludes to, you haven't told us exactly what you have. If you have prints, slides, and negatives up to 120 you have lots of options -- way too many to list here (although some will give you specific suggestions).

If you have lots of color negatives, I'd advice you to stay away from the digital camera approach.

There are TONS of flat bed scanners that can do it all, and good used ones can be found for very little $$$ -- assuming you are not trying to make museum-quality prints.

You also don't say what you want to do with all these images?????????

Thank you.....I do have a flatbed scanner so I will try that tonight with the negatives

 

[Leo60]

How much time and money are you willing to devote to this endeavor? It might be more expedient to send the photos to a service that specializes in scanning photos and slides.

Yes it is certainly looking like the best option

 

[Leo60]

Which do you have more of -- $$$ or cents?

Flatbed recommendations

My ancient Epson 4990 (I think that's the model) seems to have finally died. WHat are people using these days which can do 35mm and medium format? DSLR scanning is not an option for me, I have no space to set it up. I've looked and am only finding one Epson model on the market these days, is...

www.photrio.com

at this stage I'm just weighing up the options

 

[MattKing]

Thread title tweaked.

 

[Romanko]

The prices for scanning individual frames (slides) in Sydney are between $7 and $16, single roll of film $15 to $42 depending on resolution and the lab. A medium size archive would take from several days to several weeks to scan and process. If you want it done quickly using professional services is the way to go. If you are willing to invest time and effort into this project the digital camera scanning is probably the best option. You can buy used equipment and sell it afterwards at roughly the same price. If you choose to go this route be warned that inverting color negative films is not a trivial task.

 

[Pieter12]

Just remember if you choose to undertake this yourself you will need to carefully clean all your negatives, slides and prints preferably before scanning, although with a bit more effort, they can be cleaned in post. Either way, a time-consuming and detail-oriented chore.